NEW DELHI (TIP): India is not buying the theory that the Taliban was behind the attack in the Park Palace guesthouse in Kabul on Wednesday. Instead, Indian suspicion points to the Haqqani-LeT network which take instructions directly from the ISI in Pakistan.
“Taliban monitor their attacks minute by minute,” said a source. In case of Wednesday night’s attack, the Taliban spokesperson sent a claim in an emailed statement the following morning.
In the statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said one of the insurgents’ operatives carried out the attack with the aim of killing foreign citizens in retaliation for the US and its allies supporting the Kabul government of President Ashraf Ghani. “The occupying forces should realize that they are not safe from our attacks under any cover or in any location,” Mujahid said.
In May 2014, the supposed Taliban attack on the Indian consulate in Herat turned out to have been carried out by LeT. The big attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008 was also carried out by the Haqqani network, ostensibly under instructions from Pakistan.